I Hate My Birthdays
by Firestar'sniece
Summary: If there's anything Steve hates, it's being called old. However, Bucky Barnes doesn't seem to mind.


**Hey, I think I may have finally found a way to write and post! I hope it will work with long chapter lengths, which I have yet to try. This is just a sample and test to see if I can actually do it, so don't get your hopes up.**

 **I don't own Captain America.**

If there was anything Steve hated, it was people reminding him how old he was. After all, he didn't feel as old as his biological age. "I don't feel old," he would tell people, and they would just chuckle and mutter about how he was 97. Amusingly enough, Steve noticed that he was always the end to this joke. No one, to his annoyance, seemed to mention how Bucky was one year older than him.

Bucky had been living with Steve for over a year now, and he was finally healing. After the deal with the almost civil war and discovering that they were set up, the Avengers were slowly coming to terms with it. Even better, Bucky was allowed to finally come home.

Tony had rejoined the Avengers and at first it was awkward, but eventually things calmed down, once Tony stopped sending angry eyes at Barnes, that is.

But a new joke seemed to start quickly: Cap is old.

Steve was the brunt of it and Bucky never seemed to step in to help him out, or so it seemed. He'd just ignore it when the joking would start. But that was fine. After all, Steve would rather shield Bucky from it so that he could heal.

But it finally came to a head when Sam took them out to eat one day. It was his treat for lunch, and they were going to an all you can eat buffet. What better place to take two super soldiers with massive appetites?

Steve was dressed casually in a dark brown button down shirt in jeans and sneakers. His running jacket was over his arm and he sniffed the delicious aroma gratefully. Bucky was behind him. Metal arm in his pocket (he still didn't like people looking at it even though everyone knew about him now). He had a plain green baseball cap on his head that seemed about ready to fall off his head as he looked everywhered nervously.

"Calm down, Bucky," Steve murmered softly, and Bucky semed to immediatly relax at the sound of his voice. He kept glancing at Steve as if to make sure was still there and Steve smiled at him reassuringly.

Sam stood in front, in a I heart New York t-shirt, ball cap on head, whistling cheerfully. They were currently standing in a line to pay before they could have their meal.

Finally, it was their turn. Sam smiled happily at the cashier like he always did. "One adult and two seniors," he announced, and Steve stared stunned at the announcement for a moment as the cashier began ringing them up. He'd expected this kind of betrayal from others but not Sam.

Before things could go any further, Steve announced, "Three adults."

Sam raised an eyebrow and pointed a finger at the menu, quoting, "Senior pricing is for those that are 65 and over."

Steve rolled his eyes. "I know that, Sam. But I'm paying for me and Bucky, remember?"

"But it still says 65 and older."

"I **_know_** that, Sam!"

"Dude, do you realize how good of discounts seniors get!?"

Steve was getting annoyed at this point. "Stop calling me a senior, Sam."

"But your 97 years old. Take advantage of your age, man!"

"Where did you even get my age!?"

"The Smithsonian."

Steve rolled his eyes. Of course he did. And out of the corner of his eye, he noticed Bucky starting to look uncomfortable with all the attention they were getting.

Sam turned back to the cashier who was watching them in amusement, trying hard to supress a grin and a chuckle (as well as half the the restaurant that had noticed Captain America and Howling Commando Bucky Barnes amongst them). Not to mention another famous Avenger, the Falcon.

"One adult, two seniors. I pay," Sam announced.

Steve immediately stepped up. "One adult, seperate ticket. Two adults seperate ticket. I pay."

Sam stared at him incredulously. He turned back. "One adult, two seniors. I pay."

"Three adults, one ticket, **_I_** pay."

"One adult, two seniors, **_I_** pay."

By this time, the whole entire restaurant was watching them. And Bucky was getting really uncomfortable. So he joined Steve in saying, "Three adults." With Barnes' added input, everything was settled. After all, no one wanted to go against the Winter Soldier, even if he didn't kill anyone anymore. The poor guy was unpredictible and fragile mentally.

Sam was lucky that Steve wasn't a smug kind of guy for winning. But as it was, he frowned and stepped out of the way as Steve paid for everything. "Injured pride," he murmured grumpily.

Steve thought the whole issue was settled until their waitress had given him the receipt after the meal, a smug grin on her face. "No change," she announced and then walked off, and Sam started chuckling slightly. Steve frowned and looked down at the receipt, his frown getting bigger as he stared at it. She and the rest had charged him and Bucky senior discount.

Meanwhile Sam was still chuckling evily, watching Steve, and Steve felt both annoyed and angry. What he really wanted to say was, "I'm going to kill you for this, Sam." But he couldn't really say that in front of a restaurant full of witnesses. Instead, he slammed the tip down, startling Bucky slightly, and began putting his coat on.

When they were outside, Sam was still chuckling. Steve seemed to recall seeing Sam take a waitress silently aside for a conversation earlier, but when he'd asked Sam about it, he'd denied that anything had happened with innocent, wide eyes. Looking back on it, Steve was fairly sure what he had done.

Steve smiled tightly. "I'd think to hate that you had anything to do with this, Sam."

Sam was still chuckling. "Where's your proof?"

"I saw you pull that waitress aside."

"And that somehow means that I did sonething to your reciept? Perhaps it was just friendly conversation. You have no proof, Rogers. The house could have done it of their own accord."

Steve grit his teeth and Bucky was looking uncomfortable again.

Steve had hoped that this was the end of it, but of course it wasn't. When he and Bucky visited Clint at his house, the kids whom he loved dearly ran at him. "Grandpa Steve!" they shouted, running and jumping into his arms, Clint looking mortified. "Grandpa Bucky!" they even ran into his arms. Even Bucky looked stunned. Now he seemed to be apart of the grandpa joles. Seeing their stunned reactions, Clint let out a booming laughter.

Natasha, who must have been talking to Laura, poked her head out, and then returned to her conversations.

Stunned Bucky gathered his composure and set the excited kids down. "Who taught you to call us that?" he curiously asked.

"Natasha did!" the oldest piped up.

Steve had somewhat of an annoyd look on his face as Natasha walked over. "Traitor!" ahe grumbled mild naturedly at the child as they scattered off.

Steve hoped it would end there, but a week later they met at Tony's for a secret santa exchange for Christmas in July. And Steve opened up his present to find what?

"A hearing aid!" Steve exclained.

"Oh," Tony embarassingly said. "I thought I was making for Clint..."

Steve only glared at him, getting up and walking towards his best friend.

"But they're very **_good_** hearing aids!" Tony shouted after him. "I made them! Seriously, they're better than money can buy. I made all these high tech..."

At this point, Steve tuned him out as he focused on Bucky. Bucky was currently unwrapping his gift, and a delighted grin split his face as he saw the brand new high quality texting gloves that he had gotten. And of course they were unique and specifically designed for him. Steve had commissioned a designer (not Tony who would go overboard and might make it offensive) to make it. Steve would never tell Bucky the price tag it cost. He could more than afford it now a days anyways.

A smile was still on Bucky's face as Steve approached. "Guess I know who my secret santa is," he announced, then looked up. "Thank you, Steve."

Steve tried his best to look innocent. It **_was_** supposed to be a secret santa exchange, after all. "Don't know what your talking about, Buck."

Bucky chuckled humorously. "You were never a good lier. Thanks for the gift."

If only it had ended there, but alas, now the world had to get in on it. Now he was starting to get **_advertisements_** in the **_mail_** that seemed to be calling him old. 'Come check out our nursing home for free!' some said. 'Buy two pairs of deluxe hearing aids for the price of one!'

Grumbling, Steve would throw them away. What he really wanted to do was violently rip them apart and burn them but he was afraid that that temperment would make Bucky nervous of him. "This is harrassment!" he shouted in complaint out loud. Of course no one heard him as Bucky was who knew where at the moment.

The joke seemed never ending until one day Bucky annouced that he wanted to go back to the Smithsonian. Curious, but also wary for his friend's health and worried that maybe it had something to do with his past as the Winter Soldier, Steve asked, "Why?"

Bucky shrugged. "Remniscing."

Reluctant, but not wanting to break his friend's heart, he agreed. As they walked through and then stared at the portrait at the two of them, Bucky finally seemed to say what was on his mind the whole time. "Hard to believe we're this old, isn't it?"

Steve was immediately careful, sensing Bucky's unspoken tension. "Yeah, I guess so," he slowly replied, frowning a bit.

"I mean, when we were young, we never dreamed that we would make it this old."

"I don't think anyone did, Buck."

Suddenly, Bucky turned to him and looked at him so intently. "So why do you hate being called old?" Bucky asked.

Steve sighed and shrugged, rubbing his head with one hand. How was he supposed to be able to explain it? "People our actual age don't like being called old."

"But that still doesn't explain why **_you_** don't like getting called a senior," Bucky pointed out with a slight frown.

Slightly annoyed with the topic, Steve sighed and replied, "Because I don't feel old and I don't look old!"

"But that's exactly my point!" Bucky blurted out. "I'd rather be called old than young!"

Steve stared at his friend incredulously, thinking the thought was bizarre, until he saw Bucky's expression and knew more was bothering him.

It took a while for Bucky to continue. Taking a deep breath in, he continued out in a spue, "I mean, have you ever met anyone our age who **looks** like this? Haven't you noticed by now? We've both been out of the ice for a while and we're both not getting older. Everyone we know from before, even our families are dead from old age. And don't tell me that it's because our age hasn't had a chance to catch up to us. Even if we both hadn't gone under the ice, we'd still be looking like we are now. Either we're not aging, or we're aging **_very_** , **very** , slowly. How long until we outlive everyone alive now while we're still young? Face it, Steve. We're different, especially phyisically, from the rest of them."

Steve stood stalk still. The truth was, he'd noticed what Bucky was talking about. Could they possibly be immortal? He doubted it, but he knew they were at least aging very slowly, ice or not. But he'd never put two and two together like Bucky had about outliving everyone else. Or perhaps he had been in denial.

"I mean, is it even worth it looking for wives and getting married, when we're ready, that is? I mean, I know I'm nowhere near ready yet, but," and he sighed. "We'd just outlive them for a very long time, looking young while they get old..."

As Steve looked at Bucky, he realized that this had been on the young man's mind for some time, and it was bothering him. They both stayed silent for a long time. Finally, Steve replied, "I see your point, Buck."

A sudden smile lit Bucky's face. "Still, there are **_some_** perks to being a senior. You know that ice cream joint on 4th avenue that everyone is claiming is heaven? I hear they're giving seniors even better discount now a days. And the service is supposed to be excellent, especially for seniors."

Steve smiled. "Want to go, Buck?" Bucky nodded eagerly. "Then what are we waiting here for?"

Laughing, they left the Smithsonian and went to get ice cream, Bucky verbally relling them after Steve claimed full price that they were both taking senior discount. Steve chuckled and shook his head in good natured amusement.

Hey, Bucky was the only one that was allowed to call him a senior and an old man.

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